Good luck, and goodbye
by witchfingers
Summary: Year 198, after the Colonies. Good luck, goodbye. Duo has said that many times, when Relena sends him to a mission he'll never forget...
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or its characters. I wish I did, but I don't... --.**

**Review!**

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"_Well then, Hilde... good luck; and goodbye..."_

/Now I'm alone again... as I was before I knew you. You were like the little sister I never had, always there for me. But our paths were bond to be torn away. I held no resentment towards you, you never belonged to me, did you? But this is not the first time I am alone. I am already used to that. Nothing lasts forever./

Dou Maxwell spoke to himself words that only he knew he would listen to. He solaced himself with grim words that would usually despair anyone else. But not Duo. Not now that his only close friend, and the closest thing he had had to a family in a long time was gone, gone with a stranger. She was tied to him with those unbreakable threads of the wicked emotion somebody named love, that had torn Duo apart so many times.

_And this time, the same as all the others, he decided to hide behind his favorite mask: the mask of the **Shinigami**._

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_**Year 198, after the Colonies. The five Gundam Pilots have chosen their paths: Heero Yuy has decided to try to live a normal life, Trowa Barton has continued his career in the circus, Quatre Raberba-Winner is now in charge of a pacifist army in the Sanq Kingdom, Chang Wu Fei is a skilled master of the martial arts, and Duo Maxwell keeps being a pilot.**_

/N.2.../

/Da...dammit.../

/What in the name of God are you doing/

Duo winced. His mobile suit fell to its knees, while its pilot was still taking the blow. He was out of combat.

/I don't need time off! I'm perfectly ---/

/N.2, your performance lately had been disastrous. Take a month off, have a good rest, and come back when you can focus on your target. /

Duo heard with resignation, as he closed the door of the office, how one of the men told the other- /See? This is the result of taking kids to war. They end up with a psychological trauma.../

And he whispered/_Just because I've seen much more that what you ever will, doesn't mean I'm mad_./

As soon as he was out of the building, he threw his arms behind his head carelessly.

He understood that he had one month to fuck around, and think too much while doing too little. Who would have thought that, even two years after the war had ended, and the peace Treaties were signed, there would be still people who fought against the new international pacifism...? He had wondered many times if, what he was doing, really favored the total peace. Several times, too, he had come to the conclusion that violence originated violence, although its aims were those of entire peace.

And of course, a world without fights was a boring world, according to Duo. Not that he wanted to fight, but after all the great War had ended he had found himself with the one problem he had been avoiding all throughout his life: he only knew how to survive in times of war. True, he could fix machines... but he only knew how to fix machines suited to the war.

/Arghhhhh.../ he stood up in the middle of the concrete platform, used to park armored cars, and screamed his lungs out, but he didn't manage to get rid of any desesperation. Many men in uniforms or working suits stopped to look at him. /What are you staring at/ he barked, and everyone went back to their previous activity. But he caught some strands of the things they were whispering, which made his anger flare even more. Things like "that's the former pilot of the Gundam..." and "yes, the ones that were destroyed after the Treaties", and people seemed to understand _everything_ with only hearing the words "Gundam", "pilot" and "Treaties". At the time, everyone understood everything just with listening to those words.

Duo was sitting on a sofa in his house, with a cup of coffee in a hand and a newspaper on the other one, when he heard three knocks on his door. /Com in/ he said, he had left it unlocked.

He was very surprised to see no other than Lucrezia Noin standing on his doorsill. /Hey, Noin! Come in/ he said smiling, swallowing the look of worry he had had seconds ago.

/I'd really like to, Duo, but I'm afraid I don't have much time. Queen Relena knows of your... situation, and she would like you to do her a favor. She has to send some documents of crucial importance to a diplomat in a foreign country, and here are reasons to suspect that some old members which still remain of the Romefeller Organization want to get rid of them. The Queen would like to know whether she could trust you for this little... mission./

Duo grinned. /Sure... what do I have to do.../

Noin took an envelope from inside her jacket/Take this. Inside you'll find the plane tickets and the documents you have to take. Even though you try to read them, you won't be able to. /

/Hey Noin, wasn't it a bit risky bringin all the stuff my way, when you didn't know if I was going to accept/

/Miss Relena knew you were going to accept. The flight leaves at 1:00 a.m. Good luck./

/and Goodbye/...

Noin closed the door and left.

Duo stared thoughtfully at the papers. Crazy situation he... no, _Relena_ had gotten him into. But now, there was no way of turning back, and he knew that whatever he had to do, was better than just staying at home and thinking about things that were better kept forgotten.

Good luck, goodbye. Two words that came together, _always_, and were so opposite...

It was true, he reasoned, that the one who spoke them together was sorry for having to say one of them.

He fetched his keys, his wallet, locked the door and left.

His house wans't going to miss him for one month...


	2. A little town named Aivan

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing.**

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"Well well well..." Duo breathed in deeply the good, fresh air of the European countryside. All the stuff he had had to do at the airport had been quick thanks to Relena's intervention. He was supposed to be a retired militar, and everyone seemed to treat him with high respect and such. Duo's language skills were awful, as they had always been. But with English alone he could travel to the end of the world at the moment.

He grinned cheesely, and walked through the irregular path that was supposed to lead to a small town called Aivan, while he whistled a song he had learnt time ago. It was mid autumn, and the leaves of the trees were shades of reds, maroons and ambers. His combat boots were too heavy, so he was almost dragging his feet. Soon enough, they were covered with the brownish dust of the path, and he decided that, as soon as he got to the funny-named town, he was going to buy a pair of decent, comfortable shoes. In order to keep up the militarish look, it was enough for him to wear some medals, a beret and a gun hanguing from his belt loop. People who joined the army were usually young, and Duo was already 18, so the age wasn't a problem. He was taller than years ago, and if he tried hard, he could appear to be 21.

Finally in Aivan, he had arrived to find that there was a reservation with his name in a good-looking hotel. The little town looked charming, the sun was setting over the tree tops, and the fine weather got all the villagers out of their houses, and it all became alive.

It looked like the towns described in fairy tales.

Already in his room, he contemplated the people going chatting friendly, drinking something in a bar or just sitting there and enjoying the light of the streetlights. He was sitting on his single, comfortable bed.

The air there seemed to smell like tea and fresh-cut wood.

The small lamp on the bedside table emitted an amber ligth, which helped to create a calm and cozy atmosphere. Duo wasn't used to that kind of things, as the Sanq Kingdom was already cosmopolitan, being the centre of the World's pacifist ideology, one of the richest crowns in the world, and the source of great new artistic movements, such as the Detailism in literature, and the NeoRomanticism, in painting.. That meant, all the old traditions were long mixed with the ones of other countries, and at the time, life day-to-day, wasn't possible without technology. Inhabitants of the little Aivan managed to go by with few commodities, and that was a change Duo noted since he came across the small notice on the road that said: "Welcome to Aivan". He figured he was going to have a hard time getting used to that, but he was only staying in the village for a week. A couple of days more, if he wanted, but not longer than that.

His trip was scheduled, as he then found out going through papers and stuff he had ignored. But it seemed to him that Relena had made it all more a vacation than a crucial undercover mission. She had made sure that Duo was kept... entertained for the month he was off. He made sure to remember to thank her later.

His clothes had been especially chosen, and were carefully lain on a chair for him to see them. It was a classic clothing- something he had never wore in his life. Beige trousers and a bourdeaux sweater with a V-shaped collar. He also spotted a little note that simply read: "Don't wear stocks". Duo chuckled. "For a month"- he said, chuckling to himself- "I'll make the sacrifice..."

/_Relena has paid attention to all the details. I wonder.. if it was her alone... oh god, I should just stop thinking and do something useful... _/

Dressed in the classic clothes, and having conveniently traded his black cap for a maroon beret as planned, Duo strolled down the street. No one stopped to look at him, because he blended in with the _crowd_. The only think remarkable about him was the long braid, but anyone paid attention to that detail. Some teenaged girls even giggled when he passed by. He finally decided to have something in a small bar.

It was decorated in a very rustic style. Some heads of animals hanged from the walls, most likely old trophys from the times when there wasn't a tax on hunters. There was a wooden counter, the bartender was chatting with a chubby woman in her thirties, and behind there were shelves with bottles and jugs of all alcoholic drinks imaginable. There was also a barrel of beer, and many jars and cups.

Duo sat in a table next to the window, and asked for "Whatever hot you have, it's chillin' out there." Then, minding his manners, he added, "please". The waiter smiled at the young man, and dissapeared into a door that Duo supposed to be the kitchen.

The one who brought the tray was the same waiter. He left it on the table, smiled, and left. /_Either they're hiding something, or people in this town are really nice..._/ Duo thought as he tried to gues what he was about to drink. After some seconds, he gave up, and took a small sip. What he recognised to be some kind of tea, was delicious. It had a rich and deep fruity flavour.

"Blackcurrant and apple" said a voice behind him- the chubby woman.

"Never heard of it... what are blackcurrants?"

The woman smiled warmly: "Berries that grow in the forest. Are you in a hurry?"

Duo told her that he wasn't. That he had all the time of the world. And that he'd enjoy a conversation, and the woman started talking. She began with: "My name is Grethel, yours is..."

"Duo"

"Duo?" she seemed to _taste_ the name for a while, and then said, smiling- "it's a nice name. You're not from here, are you?"

He thought that she should know every person in that small town. "Oh, no, I'll just be here some days. "

"Really?" she looked interested in whatever he had to say.

"Yes...although I have just arrived, I already think people here are very kind."

The woman grinned with satisfaction: "I'm glad you think so, young man."

They kept chatting until Duo felt it was already too late. He said "_see you_" to Grethel and paid the "meal". He went back to the small hotel.

But he was certain that he would be back to the little bar. At least, only to talk... and maybe, to enjoy some blackcurrant and apple tea.

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_-** There's no town named Aivan. I own a character named like that, but there's no town U**_

_-**Those artistic movements were invented by yours truly. I don't know if they really exist... I don't think so. --"**_

**_Review!_**

**_Marine..._**


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